There are so many types of planners out there. If you are a digital person there are digital planners, if you are a pen and paper person, you can find super expensive planners to planners at the Dollar Store. It all depends on what you want to get out of your planner.
Monthly Planner
A lot of planners I’ve seen usually have a full monthly spread. Why would you want this? It’s to be able to see everything that you have going on in the month at a glance. So you can plan out your monthly activities, your family’s activities, vacation, sports, birthdays, etc. This is a great way to not overbook yourself and your family.
Weekly Planner
Next comes the weekly spread. There are so many different types of weekly spreads too. I’ve seen just blank columns like in the happy planner. The blank columns are great for those who love to put stickers and decorate and customize each week to their liking. The spaces are pretty open to do whatever you want to.
I’ve seen blocks of writing space. Blocks of writing space are awesome if you want to just write down what you want to accomplish that day. Reminders for the day. But theres no way to schedule out your day by time.
I’ve seen Top 3 to-dos’ and a schedule underneath. Or a time schedule for the day. This is perfect for those who want to be able to block out time for a task, errand, or appointment. You can schedule out how long you will be occupied and see your whole week at a glance with everything that you want to accomplish.
This method is the way the Mom’s BFF Planner is laid out, is the weekly schedule. The tasks that you need to complete for the week are listed on the side. The next thing you have to do is schedule it in.
Meal Planning
Meal planning. I’ve discovered meal planning as the simplest way to grocery shop and to save money. Sometimes I still feel like I spend too much on groceries. But meal planning has definitely helped us not spend money by going out to eat. When it was just Justin and me, before we had the girls, we used to go out to eat ALL THE TIME. We spent so much money on food. And it wasn’t even GOOD food, you know? It was fried food, fast food, nothing that was really good for you.
I have a few resources that I go to, to look for meals for the week. We are transitioning to have more of a plant-based diet. So this has been pretty difficult for me to plan meals. Getting enough protein has been a struggle! If you are plant-based please let me know your go-to meals or meal planning sites because I would love to get more ideas on it!
When I started meal planning for the week so many things happened. I didn’t need to run to the grocery store every day. I didn’t stress about what we were having for dinner. We didn’t have to order out and we saved a little bit of money in the process too.
The best way I’ve found to plan meals is to
1. Write down everything we are having for the week
2. Always incorporate a leftover day.
3. See if I have anything on hand already. So I don’t buy duplicates.
4. List out all the ingredients I need that I don’t have, add things for lunches and breakfasts, toiletries we have to stock up on, etc.
Planner Sizes
The size of the planner also has a big impact on deciding which planner to get. There are really small ones that are pocket-sized, up to 8.5 by 11, paper sized ones. The best thing about the tiny ones is that they travel really well. They’re so easy to throw in your purse and go. But, they usually only have a monthly calendar and you have to have really small writing. There isn’t a lot of space to write things in.
The happy planner is 7 by 9.25 in. This is a great medium-sized planner. There is enough space to write down everything. The only downfall to this size is that it is an irregular size paper. You have to purchase what the brand offers and that can get costly. You can make your own sheets at home but you have to cut it to size and purchase a special paper puncher. (Which I’ve gotten!)
Then there is a regular-sized sheet of paper size 8.5 by 11 in. The Happy Planner also comes in this size, but then it’s really bulky.
The Mom’s BFF Planner is in this size. I created a full-size planner because I like having space to write. I didn’t want everything to be squeezed together and wanted enough space to plan out my day and the week with ease. In order for the planner to not be so bulky, I created it as a quarterly planner. Planning 3 months at a time.
